The invention relates to a process and a device for hermetically leading a preferably flexible optical waveguide made of glass, covered by a protective layer that is preferably multiple-ply and preferably of plastic, through a wall of a housing.
Often, an optical waveguide of glass must be led, hermetically sealed, through a metallic wall of a housing; the housing serves, for example, to seal hermetically optoelectronic components that must be protected from the effect of corrosive media, humidity and the like.
In a known device for the hermetic lead-through of an optical waveguide (DE 34 31 748), two lead-through elements are provided that must be attached in a sealed manner to the wall and to the optical waveguide respectively and then must be connected in a sealed manner to each other. That is complicated and timeconsuming, and entails a series of error possibilities.
With another known lead-through for an optical waveguide (U.S. Pat. No. 4,357,072), the exposed optical waveguide is metallized and soldered so as to be metallically sealed to the wall.
Metallization of a glass optical waveguide is expensive and can easily result in errors. Bending protection for the outgoing part of the optical waveguide is not accomplished with simplicity.